Online entrepreneur Nicole Dean teaches internet marketing tips and strategies. She also interviews other successful internet business owners to find out the secrets to their online success. Find out what they're doing that you're not.

I use my gmail account — a lot. So, I was not thrilled to discover that every time I received a comment on a buzz, that it would burst into my face – or at least into my inbox. I’m not a big fan of allowing anyone– even those I love — to interrupt my focus.

So, I set out to figure out how to “filter” the Buzz to a place where I was in charge instead of Google.

Problem #1. Filters in Google are normally quite good, but there’s no “from” person for Buzz and no common filter info.

So, here’s how I solved it.

1. Go to “Settings” in your Gmail. (Upper right hand corner of screen.)

2. Click on “Filters” (Fourth tab). If you aren’t using them – USE them. Click “New Filter”.

3. Enter info as shown. Click “Next Step”.

4. Enter info as shown. The important thing is to mark “SKIP INBOX”.

5. CHECK where it says “Apply filter to # conversations below” and make sure you’re not moving a bunch of conversations. Click “Update Filter” if you’re happy with the filtering.

Now wasn’t that easy?

To Pull Your Feeds or Not to Pull your feeds into Google Buzz?

So, my first impression was bad. Then, I looked into my “Buzz line” or whatever it’s called where I can see what people are talking about and all I saw were Tweets being pulled in from Twitter. STRIKE two.

My gut didn’t like the idea of pulling in all my feeds. I didn’t see the benefit for my followers. So, I asked for feedback.

Here’s my Buzz Stream from today. Tell me what you think:

I posted this…

|8:26 amNicole Dean – Buzz

Debating whether or not to link my Tweets in here.

Leaning towards “no” as I’m not caring to see others tweets clouding up my buzz and distracting me from real conversation.

BUT it would be nice to have some pulled in just to share.

Thoughts? This sounds like a problem that can be solved in the shower. I’m off to enjoy one. 🙂

And, I had the pleasure of interacting quicker with my friends than I normally can on Facebook.

WILL I let Google Buzz cost me money by killing my productivity? Nah. I’m too determined and stubborn for that. And, now that it’s skipping my inbox, I have another way to reward myself for getting things done. I suggest you do the same. 🙂

Will Google Buzz replace Twitter? I doubt it. BUT it’s another opportunity to connect with people, so it really doesn’t matter either way. If you feel you can benefit, try it out. If not, then skip it for now and focus on what is currently working for you.

If, you try it and then you decide that Google Buzz is not for you…

Here’s how to cancel. Log into Gmail. Scroll down. Keep scrolling until you reach the bottom. You’ll see in teeny, tiny letters “Turn off Buzz”. That’s it.

Your “filter” idea has me re-thinking what I did earlier today – which was click on the tiny little “turn buzz off” section. Like you, I felt it was stealing my focus and needed to be stopped. I do like your point that it’s nice to interact “Twitter-like” but with more characters so I think I will give it another shot. Thanks for the great insight… as always 🙂

You know, Nik, you are one hell of a filter yourself! I can just sit back and let you do all the figuring and filtering and then just do whatever you say to do.

😀

I guess that’s my reward in these, my golden years, to have a wonderful daughter like you who will take care of this little ol’ lady! Ha!

So, yes. I joined in “the Buzz” (the name is irritating right off the bat) and got agitated because somebody I don’t know was on there talking about “bumping bodies” or something, so I blocked her. Then I turned on my Buzz filter, as you said, and will now see what happens.

What do you want to transform today?

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My mission: To help busy online marketers, specifically infoproduct sellers, to build sustainable online businesses that help them reach their financial and lifestyle goals while making both the web and the world a better place. And, hopefully having a lot of fun while doing it!